JADE LEYWIN POV
"Jade... Jade.... JADE WAKE UP!!!"
"Ugh... What?" I stirred awake
"Wake up and get dressed, we're going to eat breakfast together" Mai declared
"Eh? Why?" I asked still half asleep
"Because I barely saw you in the past 2 weeks" she said simply before exiting my room
It was true that we haven't seen each other since I was insanely busy between Council meetings, helping Gideon and helping the Lances I had little to no free time to speak of also it didn't help that for some reason Mai seemed to always be with my parents and I wasn't ready to talk to them, after everything that happened that day I just pushed my feelings aside and focused on work
Getting out of the bed I headed for the bathroom and after a quick shower I dried myself using wind magic before dressing up in plain clothes, just a long sleeved t-shirt and a pair of loose pants, since the temperature in the Castle was always set at 17 °C regardless of the season or the weather this was enough
Walking out of my room I found Mai standing beside the door waiting for me while leaning on the wall, taking a look at her I noticed she was dressed rather well, not exactly formal but not as shabby as me, she was wearing a white shirt buttoned up to the first button with a turquoise skirt decorated with small frills which started on her abdomen just below her chest and went down to her ankles, her hair were done in a loose braid that rested on her left shoulder
She hooked my left arm with her right one and we started walking down the hallway headed towards the cafeteria, reaching the door I stopped, I knew my parents were there and apparently they were alone, no one else was in the cafeteria, not even the maids
"You know what? Why don't we just ask the maids to bring something to my room, we can eat there and have some privacy" I said as I turned around and tried to go back to my room, Mai didn't move an inch she turned around and took my face in her hands
"Jade I know you already sensed your parents in there and I'm the one who asked elder Virion to close off the cafeteria for the morning" she told me staring me dead in the eyes
"I'm not ready to face them again, not yet"
"Jade, I will always be your ally, I will always take your side and stand right beside you but running away won't help you and it won't help them either, you've never been a coward, you can do this I'll be here right next to you if you need help okay?"
"Okay" I whispered
I took a deep breath and we entered the cafeteria, mom and dad were sitting at one of the tables, it was set for four people since Ellie was in the training grounds, we approached the table
"Good morning mother, father" Mai greeted and sat down
"M-morning mo-Alice, Reynolds" I said as I sat down as well, I couldn't bring myself to call them mom and dad out loud
"Morning Jade" they replied
A heavy awkward silence fell down on us, none of us knew what to say so we just sat there, the tension completely closed my stomach so I didn't eat either I just sat there looking at the table not daring to raise my gaze
"Jade, look at them" Mai told me with a gentle tone
I raised my gaze and I could see mom and dad sitting there right in front of me looking abject and I felt my heart sink
"Ehm, uhm, well ehm..."
"I'M SO SORRY!!!" mom yelled interrupting my incoherent blabbering as she shot up from her seat circled around the table and took me into a hug
"Ehm, what are you doing mo-Alice?" I asked dumbfounded by her actions
"Please please please just call me ' mom ' I'm so sorry for what I told you, you are my son you can call me ' mom ' please don't hate me" I could feel my shirt getting wet
"I could never hate you mom" tears started falling down my eyes as well as I returned her hug
"You and Arthur will always be our sons, this will never change, it doesn't matter if you're reincarnated or have memories of whatever previous life, you're my sons" dad said as he also joined the hug
After several minutes we finally calmed down enough to start an actual conversation and we all sat down once again
"You kept avoiding us so we thought you hated us for what we told you" mom told me in-between sobs
"I'm sorry, I just wasn't ready to face you or so I thought so I kept running away" I replied
"What changed your minds?" I asked
"Mai and Tess, they helped us coming to terms with all of this" dad explained
"So, all of this is your doing?" I turned around and asked Mai
"Yep, my and princess Tessia's doing" she said proudly
"What I would do without you?" I wondered
"Luckily for you, you'll never have to find out because as I said I will always be there for you" she declared
"You really found a great fiancée Jade" mom added
"Yeah, I really did"
"Well now that we solved our issue let's eat" dad stated and at the mention of food my stomach growled rather loudly, since all the tension was gone it was now demanding some food
"It seems someone is quite hungry afterall" mom teased
"So, what's Ellie doing in the training grounds with Tess? I can feel that she awakened but isn't it a little too early for training?" I asked as we ate
"Well you see your sister has been a little depressed ever since she awakened" dad replied
"Depressed? Why would she be depressed when she finally awakened?" I was confused to say the least
"After her awakening quite a lot of people were eager to test her to see if she was quadra-elemental too but it appears that she doesn't have any elemental affinity whatsoever despite being a conjurer and this left her disheartened, I'm ashamed to say that we weren't exactly helpful due to all the situation with you so Tess stepped in and she's currently helping her" mom clarified
"Oh, I'll try talk to her later then"
"Thanks Jade, she really looks up to you and Arthur, if you can talk to her I'm sure it'll help"
"Of course, she's my sister I'll always do anything I can to help her" I stated
After finishing eating I parted ways with my parents and went to the training grounds with Mai, there I could see Ellie practicing with her bow with Tess standing beside her
"That was a pretty good shot sis" I said keeping my tone upbeat
"Oh, big brother!" she stopped practicing and ran up to me, slamming herself unto me and hugging me
"Woah, easy El, one day you're going to hurt us" I told her as I returned the hug
"So what are you two up to down here?" I asked
"Nothing, just practicing" Ellie replied, her mood darkening visibly
"With just your bow? You awakened right? Why don't you show me what you can do"
"It's nothing special, I am nothing special" she stated sulking
"That's not true Ellie, you have an incredible gift" Mai commented
"That's not true I'm just a failure, I don't even have an elemental affinity" Ellie remarked
"Why don't you show me what you can do first, I'm quite curious" I told her although I already know what she can do with her magic
"Okay" she stated after returning to the platform she prepared, standing in front of the practice target she raised her bow with her left hand and drew it with her right hand without knocking on any arrows, after a few seconds a shining white arrow made of pure mana shimmered to life between her fingers, she let go of the bowstring and the mana arrow was sent flying hitting bullseye
"That's incredible Ellie! You can make solid constructs out of pure mana" I praised her
"You're just being nice, I'm not good, I don't even have an elemental affinity, I'm not like you or big brother Art" she declared as her eyes swelled up
I knelt down so I would be her height and looked at her in the eyes
"You're right, you're not like me or Art and you shouldn't be, after all you're not Arthur Leywin nor Jade Leywin, you are Eleanor Leywin and you're special in your own way, much more special than you think" I said not breaking eye contact
"Really? Even if I don't have elemental affinities?"
"Yes really, elemental affinities aren't everything you know, they're just a tool, your pure mana manipulation is much more unique, have you tried giving your arrows special properties?"
"No"
"Why don't you try? Let's make the next arrow burst in a flash of light okay"
"Okay" she nodded as she took position to fire once again, she drew her bow and materialised an arrow, she let go of the bowstring and the arrow flew, this time though instead of embedding itself in the target the arrow bursted into a flash of mana
"This is great Ellie!" I exclaimed
"What's so great? I just made some light" she asked
"You have an incredible gift Ellie you can modify all your arrows to have unique properties"
"But..."
"Ellie, do you want to know what's the best weapon for a mage?" I asked her interrupting her
"His core level?"
"No, it's creativity, it doesn't matter if you are quadra-elemental if you don't have the creativity to make your spells and your arrows are the same as long as you get creative you'll be able to make them do anything, buffs, attacks, debuffs you can do everything you only need to imagine it, your ability is incredible Ellie" I stated
"Really?"
"Really, you can become very strong but you'll need to train hard okay?"
"But what if I'm not good enough, what if I fail?"
"Failure is part of the process of growing up Ellie, do you remember how many times I blew up the backyard of Helstea manor?" I asked her
"I remember mom scolding you a lot" she giggled
"Yep, those were all failed spells, through countless failures I got experience, experience that became the foundation of my strength, it's all right to fail Ellie just keep trying and if you feel like you need help just ask me okay, I know I've been busy lately but I'll always find time for my little sister"
"Thank you big brother" she hugged me